Welcome

Hello!

This is my place for saying things I think. There are lots of things that are important to me, but for the present there are three particular categories that occupy a large portion of my time: science, religion, and politics (probably in that order). I'm currently a dissertator in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I'm also a believing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (members of this church are commonly referred to as "Mormons" - a fine designation in my mind). And, amidst of sea of liberal leftism I'm about as conservative as you get, although I qualify that to say that I believe that being tolerant (a principle not espoused by many who are too far to the right or left) is almost always more important than being right.

That said, I was recently looking for a theme or idea to tie these thoughts together. I recalled a forum I attended while an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University where Professor of Biology Michael F. Whiting (on the faculty of BYU) gave the following:

Darwin was born 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. This was the same day that Abraham Lincoln was born, and only 3 years after the birth of Joseph Smith. These three men – Smith, Lincoln, and Darwin – were all contemporaries who profoundly changed mankind’s view of religion, politics, and science. Darwin was in fact influenced by many of the same religious and social pressures that Joseph Smith was, and some of the same social forces, which molded Joseph Smith and the early church were also operating on Darwin. It is it is interesting that these men were contemporaries during a time when the Lord saw fit to rain down knowledge upon the earth (Brigham Young University Forum, May 24, 2005 - see speeches.byu.edu for an mp3, though a transcript is not available).

I like this idea. Admittedly, aside from the fact that these three men are mentioned in the same paragraph, I'll probably never refer to this idea again. But it is true the principles discovered, articulated, and/or embodied by these three men have had large impacts on the three fields in which I spend much of my time. So, while I may add additional categories - I also spend quite a bit of time playing the drums and may post some music online, for example, and I'm also a pretty serious NCAA Division I hockey fan - these are three important things to me, and I'll take advantage of this medium to publish my thoughts on each. Thus begins the documentation of my growth as I mature in an understanding and application of the principles of empirical inquiry, faithful worship of God, and patriotism.